Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Beautiful, Inside and Out

The
Washington Post’s Style Blog featured
an article last week about one of the world’s top androgynous models, Andrej
Pajic. He is one of the top paid and most sought after female models in the
world, and he models for men’s clothing as well. The article reveals ten things
about him that spark curiosity in the readers. The two I am going to focus on
are that he is not transgendered; he is a man and has no plans for changing
that. Secondly, he was voted the 98th sexiest women in the world by
FHM.

In
class we talked about humans being unique because they are the only part of
creation that is made in the image of God and therefore have intrinsic value
and worth. In fact, God loved the people He made so much that He sent His only
son to die so they could be redeemed according to John 3:16. Our culture
screams that women in the fashion magazines are the ideal of beauty-perfect
creatures that everyone should strive to look like. Our society defines beauty
as thin, symmetrical, and tall, which is unrealistic for most people. Then it
tells people to find their value and identity in their physical appearance. Not
only is this message a direct contrast to the Bible, it is completely
unrealistic and nearing the verge of almost humorous. The aesthetic ideal for
women in our culture is to look like a tall, underweight man. When did that
become the picture of perfection?

1
Samuel 16:7 says that man looks on the physical appearance, but God looks at
our hearts. Our identity should not be in how we look, but in who we are. Having
said that, Genesis 1:27 makes it clear that God made man and women as distinct
creatures, male and female which are different. Pejic blurs this line which I
believe God did not intend to be blurred based on Deuteronomy 22:5. Psalm
139:13-16 explains how each of us is fearfully and wonderfully made. God made
us just the way He wanted us. He made our noses round, crooked, or large on
purpose, and our hair as straight or curly as He desired it to be. We should
praise God for making us just as He did, and not attempt to dangerously alter
ourselves in pursuits of unrealistic thinness and beauty. Let’s stop allowing
society to define beauty based on appearance and start letting others see the
beauty that lies within.

Well that was definitely deceiving. It is hard to believe that he was voted one of the sexiest women considering he is a man. It shows you how confused this world is.As a man myself I have never understood the fascination with women wanting to be super skinny. According to most of the men I have talked to they are not even attracted to these types of girls.As you stated, God made us exactly how he intended and in His image. However we seem to doubt God's ability and attempt to fit into the world's criteria for beauty. I believe that Pejic is helping to illustrate how confused we are about what is true beauty.

I really like the verse about men look our appearance but God looks into our heart. Human are all decived by the things we see, and only God knows what the truth is. If people do not know their true identity in the eyes of the creator, they would feel confused and insecured of being themselves and trying to fit into the molds that society expects them to be. Because this world is broken and lots of people are traped in the lies, I believe your artical can help people to know the truth of their identity.

The "ideal" for women and girls these days is definitely skewed. Many models are around 14 or 15 years old nowadays, and their prepubescent bodies are represented as the ideal for how women should look. In addition, most runway models suffer from eating disorders that are necessary for them to stay in the modeling business. They are hounded by their agents to lose weight even though they are already severely underweight. Furthermore, models in magazines and on TV are extremely photo-shopped. These unrealistic expectations for women and girls are causing low self-esteem, eating disorders, and other harmful behaviors. In addition, I believe that many teenage boys are confused as to what they are supposed to be attracted to. They see women in the media who look like boys and are told that these women are sexy. So is it really a leap for boys to blur the line between male and female and experiment with or become homosexual? Especially, as in the article above, if a male dressed as a women is rated in the top 100 sexiest women.